Caveman's Watch Forum

Avatar OK, OK, just shot some photos - An official Is Happy Day! I just got a new watch! it is! >>

 Ricky Lee
October 22, 2008 04:45PM		 Registered: April 2005
Posts: 18,033 (2012-03)

Yes, of course 'tis the Big-Date GMT quartz. ;-)
Click photo to enlarge

Click photos for Supersize Version

After the business trip to MobaTime, I just couldn't get these things off my mind. :-)

I could've gone with the 35mm Ecomatic auto for a bit less dosh than this. Or, the current 41mm Day/Date auto with ETA 2836-2 for a 30% premium.

But, in the end, I decided only quartz made sense. After all, the SBB is all about accuracy! :-) And since I didn't have a big-date watch in my collection, this seemed like the perfect fit.

A side view...
Click photo to enlarge

The crowns are nicely finished, and operate with a smooth precision that I'm definitely not used to in the average quartz. Thumbs up!

Plain unadorned screwdown caseback..
Click photo to enlarge

Very crisp clean etching job on the text, mind you.



The strap is quite nice - an unpadded 22mm...
Click photo to enlarge


Nicely embossed. A top-notch strap, for OEM!
Click photo to enlarge


And - wonder of wonders - 'tis actually long enough for me!
Click photo to enlarge

Yeah, I did have to perform the patented RickyWatch Keeper Loop Transposition®. LOL

So, a Hairy Wrist Shot :-)
Click photo to enlarge

Might take a chainsaw to get this 'un off me wrist.. Eeeek! Scary!

..at least for a week or two. LOL LOL LOL

Thanks for lookin', ya'll!

-Ricky
Messages In This Thread
OK, OK, just shot some photos - An official Is Happy Day! it is! Post contains photos
Posted by Ricky Lee, ctober 22, 2008 04:45PM

Very Cool, man. Ricky! Congrats! Thumbs Up!! (n/t)
Posted by Dave Murphy, October 23, 2008 06:28AM

Very Cool, man. Mondaine - Congrats RLM! Thumbs Up!! (n/t)
Posted by Sfnewguy, October 22, 2008 10:33PM

Congrats Ricky and enjoy that beauty. (n/t)
Posted by Mark C., October 22, 2008 09:46PM

Very nice looking swiss railroad watch. The GMT feature is a real plus. (n/t)
Posted by John S., October 22, 2008 07:41PM

Doesn't look like a traditional GMT. Good ol' Mondaine. (n/t)
Posted by Allan Zirlin, October 22, 2008 07:36PM

Very nice, Ricky! I give that a hearty Thumbs Up!! (n/t)
Posted by MCV, October 22, 2008 07:35PM

The perfect watch to keep track of time Thumbs Up!! Laughing Out Loud (n/t)
Posted by TakesALickin, October 22, 2008 06:46PM

I'm railing against that comment! Were you trained in puns? Laughing Out Loud! (n/t)
Posted by Chris L, October 22, 2008 06:59PM

Don't be disrespectin' my engine-uity! Laughing Out Loud (n/t)
Posted by TakesALickin, October 23, 2008 04:14AM

Oh! My aching caboose! You should be on the stage. What, no stagecoach here? [bada-bing] Well! There's a train leaving in a minute or two! Laughing Out Loud! (n/t)
Posted by Ricky Lee, October 23, 2008 04:40AM

Love it Thumbs Up!! Good catch Ricky Lee!!! (n/t)
Posted by fox, October 22, 2008 06:02PM

I like that one! (n/t)
Posted by jeffw, October 22, 2008 05:38PM

Choo - Choo!! Thumbs Up!! (n/t)
Posted by Jeff T, October 22, 2008 05:34PM

A VERY cool new addition, Ricky...Enjoy! :) (n/t)
Posted by Jake B, October 22, 2008 05:30PM

Thumbs Up! Nice catch in the "proper" white dial too. >>
Posted by Chris L, October 22, 2008 05:25PM

Once that railway dial gets on the mind, it must be purchased. It happened to me too. :-)

Chris Larson's Blog

"Proper" white dial. Heh. Believe it or not, that was exactly my thought.. >> Post contains photos
Posted by Ricky Lee, October 23, 2008 05:00AM

..process. Much as I was tempted by some of the black models..

Stock photo

..I mean, come on! That's a baad-ass watch, by any normal standard.

But.. no, for me, it hadda be like the farqin' clocks...

Moser-Baer AG
Laughing Out Loud :-) Laughing Out Loud :-) Laughing Out Loud :-)

But I reckon I did good.. followed my heart, if you will. Even to the point of goin' quartz over my natural 'auto is better' tendency.. :-) All in all, I couldn't be happier wi' it! Thumbs Up!

-Ricky

Really nice Thumbs Up!! I admired, but missed those at a local "close out" sale :-) (n/t)
Posted by Riddim Driven, October 22, 2008 05:18PM

Looks awesome, Ricky!! Thumbs Up!! Thumbs Up!! (n/t)
Posted by UKRower, October 22, 2008 05:06PM


Second full day with the Mondaine Big-Date GMT. It does have a couple of idiosyncrasies...

October 24, 2008 10:27PM

The Big-Date feature seemed odd to me at first. This is my first Big-Date watch, so I figured no biggie, I'm just not used to it. And that's the case, I guess. But I finally figured out exactly what it is I find disconcerting about the design - Simply put, the two dates wheels are not on the same plane. The 10's digit is about .5 mm below the surface of the dial, and the 1's digit it about 1.5 mm below the surface of the dial. Again, no biggie, now that I figured it out. I assume that this little idiosyncrasy is part and parcel of the Big-Date complication? Anyone else find this a bit distracting?

The second niggle actually bothered me quite a lot, at first. You see, it takes a bit of technique to get the GMT dial in synch with the main dial. When I initially set the watch, I put the 2 dials dead-on the same minute. When I looked a little later, I noticed the GMT was a couple of minutes slow! Crazy, man! A little experimentation showed that the GMT lags by 2 minutes when you set it. Once I figured that out, I simply 'lead' the main dial by 2 minutes with the GMT, and they synched up perfectly. Not a deal-breaker, as the technique's easy as pie (unlike my Alpha GMT, which requires an Act Of Congress to get the main and GMT hands synched Scary! ). But I definitely didn't expect this of a quartz movement! And experience tells me that it's not inevitable - I've never had this issue with a Seiko 7T32 or 7T62, for instance.

These should be taken more as observations rather than complaints - all in all I'm still loving the watch! And obviously neither's a real problem.. Just thought I'd share. And am particularly curious if others note the same 'depth of field' oddity on other Big-Date watches.

On the plus side, I'm loving the look and feel of the watch. We had rain all day yesterday, and it got doused several times. No problems with water resistance! And the accuracy shows no discernable error over 48 hours. No surprise, from a quartz, but I had to check. I am smiling... I (somewhat reluctantly) replaced the buckle with a butterfly deployant, as it looks and fits much cleaner that way. Those pesky ankle-sized wrists, remember. I am sad...

Thanks for readin'!

-Ricky
Messages In This Thread

Second full day with the Mondaine Big-Date GMT. It does have a couple of idiosyncrasies... Post contains photos Post contains linked URL (views: 119)
Ricky Lee -- October 24, 2008 10:27PM
Same as my trias auto. Just wait for the 32 of the month I am smiling I am smiling (n/t) (views: 9)
chrise2469 -- October 25, 2008 04:30AM
Yeah, but it's still a good looking watch....and Ricky...by the way >> (views: 13)
greg honeycutt -- October 25, 2008 12:54AM
I'm trying to set up a get together here in the 'ham. I had thought about late November (the 22nd), but with holiday travel and such, I decided to slide it back to mid December or maybe mid Jan........either way, just a heads up. I want to give everybody at least a months notice before the date, if anyone wants to come. We'll not be able to afford boat tours or t-shirts and we might just gather at a Hooters, but we'll have some good times!!!!
Sounds good to me, Greg! I'll take the scenery at Hooters over t-shirts and boat tours any ol' day of the week! Thumbs up for that watch! Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off! (n/t) (views: 3)
Ricky Lee -- October 25, 2008 03:44PM
Have not noticed the "big date issue" with my Longines. (views: 29)
Chris L -- October 24, 2008 11:36PM
Perhaps I'm too dazzled by the rest of the dial to look into the windows. Wink, wink ...

I don't see it in photos either, so a higher-end automatic may not have the problem.

Copyright Chris Larson, all rights reserved

Yeah, I'd never get to the Longines' date. I am drooling! I am smiling But you got me curious.. (views: 3)
Ricky Lee -- October 25, 2008 03:51PM
..as to whether I can capture the effect on film. I was plannin' on a wee photo shoot today anyway, so perhaps I'll give it a go.

I suspect that the date wheels on your Longines are thinner, and stacked much closer than on the garden variety Ronda quartz mvmt the Mondaine uses...

-Ricky

At least you can see the GMT setting at a glance......... (views: 18)
Allan Zirlin -- October 24, 2008 11:34PM
The GMT hand on this model is hardly visible even in good light against a black dial.

Copyright Allan Zirlin

ETA and others are addressing the big date issue >> Post contains photos Post contains linked URL (views: 23)
cgrif -- October 24, 2008 11:34PM
in a couple of different ways. The new ETA 2826-2 big date movement has both digits on a single wheel, as Daniel Roth, Gerard Perregaux, and maybe a few other manufactures have done. But with the ETA, we'll finally start seeing more big date watches without the two windows, which are of course used to hid the gap between the wheels.

ETA ebauches

Europa star article re. ETA 2826 big date

Daniel Roth

Girard-Perregaux

I know Glashutte has single window displays using two wheels, but has put a lot of work into perfecting alignment and narrowing the gap.

Glashutte Original

Glashutte S.A.

I like those Mondaines... Very cool! (n/t) (views: 5)
jeffc -- October 24, 2008 11:05PM
Thanks for the insight, Ricky....I really like that one :) (n/t) (views: 3)
Jake B -- October 24, 2008 11:00PM
your right on with the big date issue >>> Post contains photos (views: 24)
fox -- October 24, 2008 10:37PM
this Zodiac is the same way. You can almost see it in the pic. Doesn't really bother me, but it's definatley noticeable.
Photo by fox

Whew! I was hopin' 'tweren't just me! LOL! The small parralax effect.. >> (views: 5)
Ricky Lee -- October 25, 2008 12:40AM
..is juuuust enough to royally mess wi' these olde eyes Scary! trained as they are in 3+ decades of noticing such things, from a machinist's perspective. When the light shadows the date windows at an oblique angle, it's noticeable in the extreme.

-Ricky

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